Tales of Atlantis
by Gweniveve Skyes
Summary: A one-shot collection based in the universe of "Atlantis Rising". Encompasses both pre-canon, post-canon and every other canon in between, but not the kind that fires cannonballs. Full of fun, oodles of shippings, AU and whatever else comes to mind. Suggestions from the audience is welcome!
1. Halloween

Tales of Atlantis

**In celebration of Halloween (and a very lengthy, hilarious inside joke) I have decided that I would publish the very first one for the one-shot collection, "Tales of Atlantis", which is pretty much what is says on the tin(haha): a one-shot collection firmly rooted in the "Atlantis Rising" universe. It will have one-shots based pre-canon, (such as Absintheshipping and Midas stuffs), canon—during the original series, and post canon, which is well, post series and post "AR". Since the story had taken on a life of its own, this was the best solution, rather than shoving just about **_**every single idea**_** I had about the original draft, including tidbits of AU and what not.**

** Also, there are oodles of pairings in this. They shouldn't dominate the various stories, but occasionally, they might be the focus of one every now and then.**

** . . .Well, it would seem that I'm babbling, so I'll just let the story take over :D**

** Enjoy!**

"For the record," Aaron drawled lazily, sprawled across the couch, fiddling with a sheet of paper. "I'm not much of a dress-up guy."

"Well, Kaiba _is_ throwing a masquerade charity-slash-charity tourney _and_ he invited you, you pretty much have to go," Marik countered, trying to shove Aaron back to his side of the couch. "And scoot over man, if you take up any more space, I'll be on Sivya's lap." They were currently in the living room of the Ishtars' admittedly spacious apartment, more spacious than most. Lately though, it seemed a little more crowded, since the admittance of Sivya into their family abode. They had converted their shared office into a bedroom for the young woman; there was no way that Marik would even _think _about having Sivya return to the desert.

"You know, the last time I decided to go in a costume, I somehow ended up getting blackmailed by an ex, doing something incredibly stupid while in costume. Of course, I was sort of drunk that night, so it's still kind of fuzzy. But I'm definitely _not going_," Aaron emphasized.

"Why am I not surprised?" Odion remarked, sitting across from them. "The drunk part I mean."

In response, Aaron stuck out his tongue.

"You know," Marik asked the Israeli. "Why do you keep coming over here? Don't you have your own apartment?"

"As a matter of fact I do, but you see my neighbor, a particularly curvy but not so bright blonde, does not know the meaning of "courtesy" and "please stop having a block party in the apartment next door to mine as I have to work in the morning". Sad really."

""So you come over here to pester us."

"I wouldn't say "pester" so much as "not being tempted to call the police on my neighbor"."

Sivya looked up from her book. "What will you be going as Marik?"

Marik shrugged absently, one hand fiddling with a strand of her black hair. "I'm not sure yet. I got a couple of days to decide thankfully. Unlike Mr. Grouchy-Mossad, I don't have qualms about Halloween." He glanced over at her book. "What are reading, by the way?"

"Oh, Ishizu was generous to take me to the local library and I got a library card there. I'm reading _Treasure Island._ I love all the classic books."

"Because Heaven forbid that you pick up _Twilight," _Aaron said.

The proverbial light bulb went off in Marik's head. "Hey Odion, I got the best idea for a costume _ever_."

Odion, who had been reading a newspaper, raised an eyebrow. "Dare I ask?"

"Let's go as pirates! We could do a group theme and everything!"

Odion sighed. "Not this again. Remember your last pirate idea?"

"What about pirates?" Aaron asked.

"Marik had decided that after watching "Pirates of the Caribbean", he would get himself a pirate ship. And so he did, even putting the Eye of Horus on it and everything. Then it sprung a leak, no less than three weeks later."

"It was probably Tshilaba's fault somehow," Marik waved a hand. "It's not like I'm going to go and commandeer a pirate ship somehow and sail into Kaiba's party, as awesome as it would be. Come on, it'll be fun. It's not like anybody else will do a group theme. It can be me, Sivya, you, Aaron and Ishizu."

"Ishizu as a pirate?" Aaron snorted. "Okay, if you can convince Ishizu to go as a pirate, then I will too, cross me heart."

"What exactly am I doing?" Ishizu asked, entering into the room.

"I was wondering Ishizu. . ." Marik began.

_.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- .-_

"I still can't believe that you managed to convince Ishizu to go as a pirate," Aaron said, looking through the racks of costume accessories, looking for something decent to wear.

"I think it was the idea of breaking Kaiba's brain that did it," Marik said, reaching for a pirate hat, black with gold trim and a feather plume sticking out. "Argh," he joked.

"I bet seeing Kaiba's brain break is like watching the Blue Screen of Death appear in his brain," Aaron laughed. "Hey, what about this?" he found a white shirt with blooming sleeves and a leather cord at the collar. "This isn't so bad."

"Not at all," Odion said.

"I don't know about poking fun at your boss," Sivya said at last, giggling when Marik had placed the flamboyant hat on her head, "and what is this "Blue Screen of Death"?"

"Ah, he isn't here supervising me," Aaron pshaw-ed. "It's all in good fun, besides. He pays really well. And the Blue Screen of Death is pretty much what it says. A blue screen pops up on your computer and then it pretty much dies, so to speak."

"Oh, I see."

"Heh," Aaron found an eye patch. He put it on. "Yargh, I feel more like a pirate now! Of course, my depth perception's completely shot now, but who cares, it's for the costume."

Odion smirked and reached for the eye patch, an idea springing to mind. He grasped it in his hand and pulled it away from his face. He suddenly let go and since the patch was tied with stretchable string, the patch instantly shot back into place, smacking Aaron in the eye socket with the eye patch.

"Ah jeez Odion!" he shouted in surprise, jumping up and down, one hand clutching his left eye. "That really, _really _hurts! Ah! holy cow! Son of a -"

"Careful, there's children in the costume store," Odion teased, clamping off Aaron's predicted stream of curses. "That was too easy."

"I'll show you!" Aaron plucked off the pirate hat from Sivya's head, swatting at the man with it.

Marik placed his hands on Sivya's shoulders, steering her away. "Here, let's get away from the crazy people before we get kicked out from the store."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.

"Marik, I think these boots are too big," Sivya began, fiddling with the black boots they picked up from a consignment store. They were perfect for the part, but it would appear that they would be a size or two too big. "It feels like I'm going to walk right out of them." She had on a long sleeved cream colored shirt with flowing sleeves that went a little past her wrists. A forest green vest went over that for modesty's sake to match the brown and deep green pair of skirts she has on as well. The green skirt went over the brown one, tied together with her treasured gypsy belt. They picked up a fake cutlass and pistol to match it.

"Hmm, maybe we could stuff some socks in it," Marik offered.

"Oh yes, _brilliant_ solution there," Aaron ribbed, fiddling with the sleeves of his pirate coat, a brown leather affair that went just to his knees. Like Sivya's boots, it was also found, by sheer luck, at the consignment store. It took another store to find Marik's as well. He adjusted his eye patch, which was now on the right eye in the wake of Odion's little prank. He had been whining earlier about how much his eye had hurt from the incident and thus moved the patch. "I could make a totally awkward joke here, but I won't. I like having my eye not in _agony_," he emphasized, looking pointedly at Odion. Odion who was clad in a sea blue shirt and black pants, along with a blue bandana on his head and gold earrings, merely shrugged, chuckling to himself.

Marik scowled and turned his attention to his own costume, having issues with the rags he was trying to wrap about his hands. His outfit was seen as much more elaborate than the others, for Marik secretly enjoyed the holiday when he came to Domino. He had never celebrated anything of the like as a child and teenager and he relished the opportunity to dress up, to be anything you want, even if it was for just one night only. He wore a white shirt, ragged and purposefully stained to give the appearance of age and wear and tear. He wore costume jewelry on his hands and about his neck, with rags wrapped about his palms and fingers. He wore a elaborate hat, black with gold trim and a white feather in the band. A long violet coat went down to his ankles and his pants, a dirty brown, was torn like his shirt was. Shiny black boots, a fake sword and a blood red sash completed the outfit. "Stupid wraps," he cursed, struggling to tie them. He was left handed, the only one his family and to use his right hand was awkward and leading to frustration.

"Here, let me," Sivya offered reaching out. She skillfully wrapped the cloth about his hands, tight enough to remain on but still allowing free range with his movements.

"Thank you," he said, smiling. "What would I do without you?"

"Still have problems riding camels,I would think," she teased and he flushed.

"That camel never did like me, for the record," he shot back, eyes full of mirth.

There was a knock on the wall and Ishizu stepped into the room, arms outstretched, displaying her costume. "Is this too immodest?" she asked

"Nope, looks great to me," Marik said and Odion nodded.

"You're definitely going to short circuit Kaiba's brain for sure," Aaron added, offering a thumb's up. "I think I'll bring a camera, should this happen." Ishizu narrowed her eyes and Aaron quailed, protectively placing one hand over the eye patch, lest she get a hold of it as well. "Then again, maybe not."

Ishizu adjusted her hat and top. "Let's get going, before Kaiba says we're all late even if we end up three hours early," she chuckled.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The ballroom Kaiba had rented out glittered with lights as they neared it, the taxi pulling up to the entrance . Sivya kept fiddling with the coins on her gypsy belt, nervous about riding in the vehicle—although the drive was much calmer than any of Aaron's crazy drives across the desert—and being around so many people she didn't know. Thankfully Yugi and his friends would be there as well, so she had some people to interact with. She had never been comfortable around crowds, having lived either alone or with her family for her entire life. Marik, seeing her anxiety, reached out, intertwining his fingers with her own.

"It won't be that bad, I promise," he reassured her. "Besides, we get to see a whole bunch of awesome costumes and duels and there won't involve freaky things."

"I hope so."

"Well, considering who Kaiba's new head of security is, I would say that that would be highly unlikely, if at all possible."

She nodded, catching his smile and rested her head on his shoulder.

The taxi pulled up and paying the driver a very generous tip, they stepped out, Marik nearly tripping on the extravagant coat on the way out. The ballroom was perhaps the most elegant and fanciful one in the city; anybody who wanted to rent it had better be prepared to pay a pretty penny for using it.

Thankfully, Kaiba had many.

Going through the glass doors, they were greeted by Yugi, who waved at them, a tall brown staff in hand. He wore a wide brimmed hat, with silver and turquoise accents and a long trench coat with the cape in the back. A pair of boots and black jeans topped off the ensemble, as well as a silver pentagram necklace and some sort of bracelet on his wrist. "Well stars and stones!" he greeted. "I must have missed the memo about the group themes."

Aaron pointed at Marik, who was at the head of their troop. "It was Marik's idea. I'm only here for the food and children's card games." He eyed Yugi's costume. "What are you supposed to be exactly anyways?"

"A wizard," he smiled.

"Not like any wizard I've seen."

"Not all wizards wear pointy hats and bushy beards."

"Right. Next question: How on earth did you get that hat on anyway?"

Yugi turned around, revealing his hair, which he had tied back in a ponytail. "Rubber bands and lots of hair gel."

"Nice to know." Aaron offered a thumbs up. "Now, when is the shindig supposed to begin?"

"Soon," Kaiba stepped up behind them. He wore a set of armor that went from head to toe the whole ensemble a luminescent white color that reminded Marik of pearls. A white and blue cape went to his ankles and he wore a silver belt, complete with sword and dragon shaped buckle. Aaron whistled, clearly impressed with the entire piece. "And you're late, by the way."

Marik and Odion exchanged glances as Ishizu smirked, recalling an incident.

"Is that so?" she challenged. She stepped out from behind her brothers and Sivya, revealing her costume in its entirety.

Kaiba's face went completely blank, eyes about ready to pop out of their sockets. Ishizu had worn a white top that continuously slipped off of one shoulder, while a burgundy corset emphasized her curves. The black pants and boots didn't help with Kaiba's state of mind either. Add a long, blush red coat not unlike Marik's and it was safe to say the Kaiba's mind had clearly short circuited.

Aaron leaned over to Sivya. "Remember what I had said about the "Blue Screen of Death?"

Sivya nodded. "Yes. . ."

"This is it right here."

"Oh," and then she giggled, watching as Seto clearly wrestled with himself.

"It wouldn't kill to give her a compliment," Aaron remarked to Kaiba, then hastily added, "Boss."

"Yes." Kaiba tugged at the collar of his costume. "Well, you aren't _that_ late." he said at last.

Marik rolled his eyes. "Worst compliment ever."

Kaiba glared daggers at him.

The CEO stepped aside to let them through the entrance. Ishizu smirked as she caught Seto's gaze following her movements. "Something the matter Seto?"

He shook his head. "No, nothing's the matter."

"For a CEO, you're a horrible liar."

". . .Admittedly, I wasn't expecting you to wear such a costume."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

The floor was quite crowded, costumed partygoers and duelists filling the place. Sivya stayed close to Marik, her hand in his. "There is a lot of people here," she told him.

"That's to be expected, it is a masquerade party," he smiled. "We should see how many people we recognize under the costumes and maybe guess the costumes too."

"That sounds like fun. But I won't be very good at it," Siya said.

"I didn't say it was a competition." He kissed her hand and she blushed. "We'll do it together. I'll explain some of the more. . .unusual costumes to you."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- .-.

The actual dueling had taken a seat back of sorts to the many and varied costumes that dotted the ballroom floor. Yugi had once again won the tourney, but that was to be expected considering that it was Yugi after all, although pretty much nobody had understood his costume. Joey's as well, for he was sulking the entire night wondering why only a few people, besides Yugi, had gotten his Captain Malcolm Reynolds costume, although to be fair, the only reason why only Yugi had understood it was because he had gotten Joey hooked on the show in the first place. Meanwhile, rumors were floating around that the reason that Kaiba had lost to Yugi again was not because of his dueling skills but by the fact that he had been distracted by Ishizu's costume the entire night.

Of course, Kaiba would vehemently deny this accusation, even more so since rumor also had it that Aaron had started said rumor.

Which he did.

The now exhausted Ishtar clan and one possibly tipsy retired Mossad agent climbed into the nearest taxi that would hold all five of them. Sivya yawned mightily, resting her head on Marik's shoulder. "I've never had that much fun before," she told him. "Thank you for taking me."

"Well, it wouldn't have been very polite to leave you at home, now would it?"

"Oh get a room," Aaron teased.

This time, it was Ishizu that snapped back his eye patch.

"Why does everybody like to abuse me?" he bemoaned.

"I do have one question though Marik?"

"What's that?"

". . .why was that one duelist wearing a meat dress?"

**Methinks that Halloween is the time of year to unleash your geek, like Dresden Yugi and Captain Mal/Joey. And yes, I like to think that Joey is a closet Firefly fan (and possibly day dreams about he and Mai being like Mal and Inara NO SHAME WHATSOEVER). And yes, Aaron is the new KaibaCorp head of security. Kaiba's his boss, which makes everything hilarious and awkward at the same time. And I've decided to make Marik left-handed, BECAUSE I CAN.**

** This one-shot is dedicated to Kohaku no Hime and The Duelist's Heiress because PIRATES.**


	2. Sentiments

Sentiments

**Got a plot tribble that just would not leave me alone, so I'm writing it just to get it out of my head because **_**it won't leave me alone**_**.**

** Someone save me from my own plot ideas.**

** A couple notes about this one: It takes place about three years before the events of Duelist Kingdom/ season one and therefore **_**waaayyy**_** before the events of "Atlantis Rising". Because of this, the characters are a lot younger. Also, since it features Mai prominently, you could say it's a belated birthday one-shot for her, so happy belated birthday Mai?**

** Let's just get on with it.**

The ship was busy tonight as always but to Mai, it seemed busier than before. She had been on the ship for about six months now, the fear of being caught for lying about her age, for she claimed that she was twenty-one when in actuality she was a little older than seventeen (skillfully applied makeup and a false ID can always make such things easier), was beginning to lift. She balanced the drink on her hip, surveying the crowd. It appeared to be the usual, overweight middle aged men tossing their money about like it was nothing, women desperate to be with such men, rich young men hoping to make a name for themselves through networking.

Mai had always wondered why all the money and power went to such idiotic people.

"Honey, you're zoning out," Babette, called "Babs" for short, said, waving a gloved hand in front of Mai's face.

"Sorry, guess walking around on these high heeled boots kill you after a while."

Babs giggled, tossing that platinum blonde hair around. "You get used to them after a while. You might even like them. Those kind of boots _enpower_ women, lets man know that our pretty outsides hide our dangerous insides."

"Babs,I thought it hurt your brain to use big words," Katherine, another worker clad in the iconic black leotard and stiletto boots, snorted. Kathering and Babs always had that friendly, bickering relationship, both clearly veterans from working on the ship for so many years. Mai could see the makeup caked on the lines about their mouths and lines, that desperate attempt to cling to their youth. Didn't they know that it always made it worse? At least, that was what one of Mai's many nannies told her.

Babs stuck her tongue out at Katherine. "Very funny."

Katherine laughed and turned to watch the crowds. The many scantily clad women were running about catering to whatever needs their guests required, usually drinks, but Mai had heard that it went beyond that. Mai faced Katherine's direction too, until she caught the gaze of an man dressed smartly, alone at one of the smaller tables, fiddling with a nearly empty glass as he gazed about, studying the crowd. He looked to be of Middle Eastern descent, with jet black, turning gray at his left temple.

"Ooh, he cute," Babs cooed, seeing what Mai and Katherine were watching. "Dibs."

"You can't just call "dibs" on a man," Katherine told Babs. "We should let Mai serve him." Katherine and Babs were the only ones on the ship who knew of Mai's real age and thus, made an effort to keep Mai from the more lecherous men, perhaps in a attempt to hold on to their own innocence through Mai.

"Why me?" Mai asked, growing nervous. She was used to serving people in a group at one of the many card tables. It was safer there. Serving a man by herself? Well, that was completely different.

"Because," Katherine nudged Mai forward, "it's a rite of passage."

"Rite of passage my-" Mai stopped herself. Her mother always said that a lady should never curse.

Of course, her mother would frequently drink like a fish and never really paid attention to her, so what did she know? Nothing really.

"Fine," Mai grumbled and walked over, ignoring the catcalls and leering gazes of the patrons. She suspected that she was one of the more desired workers on board because of her youth and figure, but Mai had learned to ignore them.

She walked to the table, flashing her most winsome smile. "Well hello there handsome, can I get you something to drink?"

He glanced up and Mai caught a better glimpse of the man's face, it was craggy and rugged, like that of a soldier. "Just water."

"Water? On a ship like this?" Mai asked incredulously. "What for?"

"So I can prepare myself for the greatest alcohol binge in the history of mankind," the man joked and Mai couldn't help but smile. He wasn't leering nor starring at places one really shouldn't.

"I'll humor you this one time," Mai replied. "but next time you're buying a gin and tonic."

"I prefer vodka."

A few minutes later, she came back with the water. He was still studying the crowd, but this time around, he had a deck of Duel Monster cards on the table, shuffling them idly.

"Duel Monsters?" she asked, setting down the water.

"Yeah," he answered, still crowd watching. "You play?"

Mai shrugged. "Sort of. Sometimes they'll have me play at the dueling tables but it's not hard to beat a bunch of drunken idiots who waste their money."

"Then play against someone who isn't a drunk idiot." He stacked the now shuffled deck on one side of the table. "Care to?"

Mai eyed the deck before seating herself in the chair across from him. She reached down to her leg, where she kept her deck, just in case she would be needed at one of the tables, and placed the deck on the table. "Game on," she smirked.

The game progressed rather quickly and Mai found herself scrambling to get out of one trap after another. Her Harpy deck was unable to stand up to his deck, especially not after he played Hyozanryu and equipped it with "Horn of the Unicorn". Mai stared at the playing field, surprised that she lost.

"I lost," she said at last. "I never lose."

"Don't be ashamed of it kiddo, You've got great potential to be a fantastic duelist, probably even champion," the man said, shuffling his deck. " Besides, you learn more when you lose."

"Not from what I've told," Mai grumbled, thinking of her parents. Winning was everything to them; shame that it was all they desired, rather than being with their only child.

"Then they were wrong." The man placed the deck into his jacket pocket. "You see, you may lose in life, the key to it is to lose as little as possible. The reason you lose more from losing is to apply it when you win the very next time, like the next time you lose per say."

Mai frowned, before shuffling back her deck. As her fingers brushed up against one of her Harpy Lady cards, clearly well loved, old and worn. She smiled as she looked down at it.

"Let me guess, your first card?" The man asked. Mai nodded and he took it from her. He turned it over, noting the worn corners, the places where the ink had rubbed off from years of wear and tear. "Another thing to know about life," he began, "Is to not be sentimental over the little things. Sentimentality over the big things, yeah that's fine, but being sentimental over the little things, that'll be the things that trip you up. There's no point in looking forward and getting ahead if all you're doing is looking behind you." He handed the card back to her and she slipped it back into the deck before placing it back into the slot strapped to her leg.

He suddenly looked behind her, eyes narrowed in concentration. Mai felt unsettled at this, seeing the intensity of the man's gaze. He tensed up like a snake, ready to strike. He relaxed just as quickly, but he remained alert and wary.

"Are you alright?" she asked hesitantly.

"Hmm? Yeah, sorry about that. I thought I recognized someone." He laced his fingers, resting his head lightly on them. "I'm sorry for taking you away from your work."

"That's perfectly alright. I'm dealing with idiots, remember?" Mai said, jerking her thumb back to the throngs of gamblers.

"Quite. Well, I think you should get going before I get you in trouble for talking to someone like me."

Mai nodded. "Right. _Before Babs and Katherine want to know all of the supposed juicy details." _She excused herself from the table. "Thank you."

"No problem," the man smiled. "Got a name, by the way? That way I can know if you end up on the tourney circuit. Maybe we'll get to duel again on the big stage."

"It's Mai. Mai Valentine. And yours?"

"You can call me Benjamin Navin."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.- .-.-.

"Welcome to the White Star Tournament Finals sponsored by White Star Energy Drinks! Our finalists are Benjamin Navin and Mai Valentine! Please give them the biggest welcome as they step onto the stage!"

Mai shifted from one foot to another, anxious for the duel. She was a skilled duelist now, but every tournament, every duel made her nervous. An old habit, she surmised, or instinct, to brace herself against the worst.

"The key to it is to lose as little as possible," she told herself, a lesson she learned when she was much younger. She absently reached for her duel deck on her leg, fingers brushing against one familiar and well loved card. She eyed it for a moment, then placed the card in her violet jacket's inside pocket.

"Don't be sentimental over the little things," she told herself before locking away the card in her memories.

She strode confidently out of the hall and into the stadium.

"They'll only slow you down."

**So that is one of the few times that Mai and Benjamin/Aaron have crossed paths before the events of "AR". It seems weird to all of you I'm guessing, that he would teach Mai those sort of things, but remember that at this period of time, Aaron was still a Mossad agent; you learn to detach yourself. He was also growing more and more bitter about his tenure there. Mai had essentially learned those lessons during her childhood and teenaged years (nor does it help that she ran away at seventeen and lied about her age to get a job on a floating casino; headcanon BTW); Aaron had only affirmed her beliefs.**

** And for those who were wondering, Aaron/Benjamin was on the ship to track down a supplier who would supply chemicals and armaments to terrorists. This would be the case that led him to be injured and no longer to be a Mossad agent.**


	3. Chapter 3: Adventures with IKEA

Adventures with IKEA

**Because what's worse than assembling furniture? **

** Assembling IKEA furniture.**

"You know Joey, you don't have to help me assemble it," Mai told him as the pair hauled a large and quite dense box out of the back of his pickup truck, an beat up car that perpetually seemed to be on its last legs.

"I've got nothing to do today, so why not?" Joey attempted to shrug, his hands underneath the box. "But holy crap Mai, why do you need a new theater system thingymabober? What's wrong with your old one?"

"Too much stress—watch it it's tipping on my side! Anyways, the weight broke some of the sides, so I'm getting a new one."

"From IKEA."

"Oh stop groaning, you got to eat Swedish meatballs."

" Okay, so the meatballs were delicious, but we spent what, three hours trying to find our way around?"

"I think that's an over exaggeration."

"They should make some sort of survival movie based on this place," he grunted as the two of them worked the box through the door to her condominium building, to the elevator. Her condo wasn't too high up, only on the third floor, but to haul the box up three flights of stairs was madness.

"Maybe I should have hired those two hunky looking Swedish guys to help me instead," she teased.

"Way to take the knife and twist it."

After four tries to wedge the box into the elevator, and shooting down Joey's idea to build a crane and pulley to haul it up that way, Mai and Joey found themselves standing awkwardly, the box separating them.

"You're buying dinner tonight, right?" He asked, flopped across the box and flashing Mai what Tea had called "the world's biggest puppy-dog eyes" (she had also warned Mai to not cave into them as well)

"Only if you're a good boy and besides, didn't you _just_ tell me that you were helping because you had nothing else to do?"

"Uh. . ." Mai had to repress a giggle as Joey's mind went utterly blank as he struggled to come up with a decent enough excuse for said statement.

"I'm kidding!" she finally laughed. "Of course I'll buy. Chinese or pizza?"

"Don't matter to me," he said, watching as the elevator doors opened up. "The next question is: how the heck are we gonna get this thing out the door?"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Okay, so on the count of three-"

"Wait are we saying "one, two three" or on three?"

"Does it matter Joey?"

"It does to me."

"Fine, we'll count to three. One, two, three-"

"Argh! I think that was my foot! I think the box is on my foot!"

"Then why didn't you move your foot?"

"Because there's a giant box on it, that's why!"

"Sorry about that."

"Will you kiss it?"

"No, I am not kissing your foot."

There was a pause.

"Mai, my lips hurt-"

"No."

It took them a little over the fifteen minutes with the occasional whine from Joey about his foot, they managed to get the box jammed inside Mai's condominium. Joey let out a whistle as he studied the abode. "Man these are some nice digs," he whistled. The furniture was of high quality, the back wall painted a pale blue hue. Her television and all of her DVDs and knickknacks were on the floor, clearly having already disposed of her damaged home theater kitchen was built next to the living room, a open bar of sorts acting as a window in between where photo frames sat, the pictures filled with happier times. Joey spied one familiar one.

"Hey, that's the one from the beach during the tourney," he began, picking it up. It was all of them together, with Ishizu taking the picture; Seto had elected to not join, despite Mokuba's insistence. They all looked happy, with Yugi and Tea holding hands and Joey's hand about Mai's waist, his other around Serenity's, more than likely in an effort to keep both Tristan and Duke at bay. Rebecca and Rebecca were flashing peace signs while Tristan and Duke were giving each other the bunny ears.

"Yeah I got Tea to make copies," she said smiling, watching Joey's face light up looking at the picture. "So, you're going to help with this or what?" she gently teased, gesturing to the box that was placed in the center of her living room.

"Right, my bad." He reached into his back pocket, flipping open a knife to cut the tape and pull the pieces out. "Let's get started then."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Wait Mai, does D5 attach to C7 or-?"

"I thought it attached to A9."

"But there's already something attached to A5."

"What about the other side?"

"It doesn't fit—oh wait, it does. Will you look at that."

"Joey, where that nut I had you hold on to?"

"Um let's see. . .crap."

"You lost it?"

"It's not lost, it's misplaced!"

"Well smarty-pants, if it's misplaced, then where is it?"

Joey looked about his section of the living room, amidst the pieces of particle board, paper and plastic, before proclaiming, "Well it seems to me that said nut has now entered Narnia or another dimension, probably both is more likely."

"How can it be in two places at once?"

"Have you not seen what Christmas lights do?"

Mai sighed, massaging the temples of her forehead. "You do realize that that was the last nut of that kind, right?"

There was a pause.

"Crap."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

In total, it took about four hours, two snack breaks for Joey, twenty minutes wasted on finding said nut Joey had lost, and Mai nearly wanting to pull out her hair not once but thrice, but they did it.

Joey sprawled across Mai's rather plush couch. "Well, that doesn't look too bad," he said, admiring it. His had his head resting on her right thigh.

"It would have been faster if I had hired the two Swedish guys," Mai joked, absently fiddling with a lock of hair. It was surprisingly soft.

"You say that, but you don't actually _mean_ that."

". . .Alright, I'll concede that point there."

"Good, because I'm pretty sure they had the hots for each other anyway. They'd be making googly eyes at each other the whole time, like what Tea and Yugi do every time we all hang out"

"Joey!" She flicked him on the head.

"What? I'm jus' saying. . ."

"I'm going to pretend that this conversation did not exist."

". . .I'm right about the Yugi and Tea part."

"Still pretending I didn't hear that. . ."

"Hey Mai?"

"What?" She answered absently.

"My lips still-."

"_No._"

** This was clearly inspired by the news article about the police being called to someone's house because they thought it was a case of domestic violence.**

** Turns out it was because they were having problems with assembling the IKEA furniture they had purchased.**

** True Story.**


	4. Chapter 4: Snowfall

Snowfall

**Yes, this is inspired by the recent snowstorm that hit the Middle East. This can also be seen as the "Christmas special" but only because Aaron refused to participate in such matters because he's Jewish and therefore the obligatory Christmas special had to be canceled.**

The apartment was empty and silent, with Ishizu, Marik and Odion leaving to work at the museum today. They were busy authenticating a series of artifacts from the 17th Dynasty for an upcoming exhibit and the curators needed all the help they could get, which left Sivya alone for the day. Not that she minded really; she was used to being by herself. She softly padded out the hall, bundled in one of the many heavy blankets the Ishtars had on hand, wondering how it could be so silent. Sometimes she could hear the roar of traffic up and down the street next to the apartment complex but today was silent, but not the eerie sort of silence, but the peaceful, soft silence that heralded the onset of winter.

She went to the window, wondering what could cause such a marvelous and blessed quiet. The exterior of the windows were covered in a thin layer of frost. She scowled, unable to see anything, so she decided to open it-

-And was promptly greeted by a blast of cold and a flurry of snowflakes.

She hurriedly slammed the window shut once more, realizing that it had indeed snowed. must have snowed the previous night, blanketing everything in a thick layer of white.

Sivya had heard of snow before, when she was younger, her parents told her stories of snowfall in the mountain ranges of their homeland, the cold and the purity of the substance. She had never seen it herself however and she decided to take it upon herself to see it in person. It wasn't going to hppen often you know. So she trundled back to her bedroom, still under the heavy blanket, and decided to go on a little adventure, like Bilbo Baggins.

After getting dressed, she headed towards the hall closet, recalling how Marik and Ishizu would bundle up in layers of clothing to ward off the chill. Odion seemed impervious to the cold, for he usually wore a hat and a coat; how he could withstand it, nobody knew. She wrapped an impossibly long and multicolored scarf about her neck, remembering that Serenity had knitted for her as a gift. Next came the hat that matched the scarf and atop of that, a pair of woolen gloves and a long navy blue coat that went to her knees. The boots that she had laced up to her ankles were warm, but clunky and awkward on her feet. She usually never wore such heavy footwear. As she headed out, she caught a glimpse of her reflection and giggled to herself at the almost ludicrous sight. Sivya had never pictured herself in such garb, ever.

She grabbed the spare set of keys and headed out, eager to set foot in such a foreign world.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The snow crunched under the heavy soles of her boots as she stepped out of the building. The city seemed to be absolutely silent, snow still falling to the ground. It was absolutely _freezing_ and for a second, Sivya had the urge to run back inside and duck under multiple layers of blankets with a mug of tea. She fought it off, determined to make the most of this most unusual occurrence. The snow was everywhere, covering just about every flat surface it could. Tree branches were laden with the substance, as were all the park benches and tables. It continued to fall and Siya looked up, the sight nearly taking her breath away. The snowflakes fall all about her, tumbling and colliding, like starfall and she was in the midst of it.

She watched as her breath turned into steam in the frozen air. It was like she was Smaug, the King Under the Mountain. She laughed at this, watching her breath float away into the sky.

She wedged her hands into the pockets of her coat and began to meander through the park that was next to the building watching and enjoying the blissful silence. Out of curiosity, she knelt next to a nearby snow drift and pulled off one glove. She scooped up a handful of snow, inspecting the substance. It was wet and cold, melting rapidly in her palm. After withstanding a few moments of the bitter cold, she flung the remnants away and tugged the glove back on as quickly as she could.

"What lady, haven't you ever seen snow before?" Sivya stood up hurriedly only to discover a young boy, about the age of ten, bundled up save for a pair of electric blue eyes and a smattering of freckles on his nose and cheeks that peeked out from a scarf and hat.

She flushed. "I must admit, I've never seen snow before in my life. Snow doesn't usually fall in my home country."

"What, you lived in a desert or something?"

"Something like that."

"Oh, you must be like Marik then. He's never seen snow before he moved here too."

"You know Marik then?"

The boy nodded. "He's pretty cool. Does snowball fights with us and sometimes he'll let us ride on the back of his motorcycle. He also gives those king sized candy bars on Halloween. Nobody else does that."

"I see."

"You his sister?"

"I'm uh. . ." Sivya fumbled for the proper words, her face flushing.

"Oh, so you're his girlfriend then."

"Yes. . ." she admitted, turning ever so redder. "I must ask, what do you do in the snow?"

"Well let's see, you do snowball fights, make snowmen, snow angels. . ."

"That sounds like a fun time."

"Well, there are a bunch of kids over on the other side of the park." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Wanna join?"

"You would let me join you?"

"Why not? Besides, you're Marik's girlfriend so that makes you cool too."

"Thank you."

As the boy led Sivya through the park, she asked. "What is you name, might I ask?"

"Oh me? I'm Scott, but everybody calls me Scottie, like the Scottie dog. What's yours?"

"My name is Sivya. It is nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Scottie led Sivya to the other side of the park, where a group of kids, all wearing their winter coats, were laughing and throwing the snow at each other. Their coats, in an array of color, reminded Sivya of a quilt, with the white snow as the background. There were a dozen of them and Sivya recognized a couple of their faces as children from their apartment building.

"Whose that?" Someone asked, Sivya couldn't see who.

"This is Sivya," Scottie answered. "She's Marik's girlfriend, so she's cool."

"She's lucky," one of the girls, a willowy brunette, whispered wistfully to her friend. Sivya caught this and blushed.

There was a sudden flash and she blinked rapidly in surprise, like an owl encountering daylight.

"What was that?" she asked Scottie.

"Oh, that's Kelsey," Scottie pointed to one of the shorter girls, a redhead, holding a disposable camera. "She wants to be a photographer when she grows up, so she practices by taking lots of pictures.

"Oh, well I am very honored that you would take a picture of me," Sivya said, offering Kelsey a half curtsey."

"She does that for everybody," one boy snorted, one with a sloppy mop of black hair under a gold and red hat.

"That's not nice, Tony!"

"Oh cram it, Steve."

"Will you two play nice?" Scottie sighed in exasperation. "You guys be nice to Sivya, she's never seen snow before, so we're gonna show her all the stuff you can do in the snow."

"Like snowball fights?"

"And snow angels?"

"And yellow snow?"

"Tony!"

"Let's do the snowball fight first!"

"'Snowball' fight?" Sivay asked.

"Yeah, I'll show you." Tony bent down to grab a handful of snow. "You just grab some snow, make it into a ball, and then you throw it!" He flung the snowball at Steve, where it struck him in the back of the head.

Shortly after that, Steve retaliated and the area burst into chaos.

But it was the nice sort of chaos.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Marik stepped through the door, shaking out the snow from errant strands of hair. It was cold, very cold out there and he was grateful that his boss had let him go home early. Of course, it didn't hurt that his boss was his sister. What struck him as odd however, was how quiet the apartment was. Normally, he would hear Sivya humming nonsensically to herself as she read one of the dozens of books she always seemed to be reading at once as she was curled up on the couch under a blanket, an endearing sight that always managed to melt Marik's heart.

But she wasn't in the living room, she wasn't in her bedroom nor the restroom either.

Marik took a steadying breath, trying his best not to panic. She had been missing once before, in that city in Turkey, and that incident did not end well for _any _party involved.

If she wasn't in the apartment, then where would she be?

He looked frantically about, looking for any clue to her current location. He saw that the hall closet was slightly open, a scarf, one of his, dangling in the door jam. That combined with her keys missing, lead Marik to the conclusion that she was more than likely outside. Why he didn't know; it was freezing out there.

So he turned right back around to go find her.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The snow crunched under his boots and he ploughed through the ever growing snow drifts. How that city still managed to function under such conditions, he couldn't even fathom. He had to admit though, it was a rather peaceful scene, the snow softly falling, the trees elegantly draped in ice and snow, the laughter of children-

-He paused.

Among the laughter, he caught the giggle of one particular person.

"That has to be Sivya," he remarked to himself, and stomped off in the direction of the noise. A few minutes later, he found himself leaning against a tree, watching the children engage in the mother all of snowball fights—and Marik had participated in quite a few-, with Sivya the tallest among them, dodging and dancing away from the flying snowballs. She had unerring accuracy as she pelted Tony in the chest with a well placed snowball. He suspected that it was from her years of defending her goat herds. She laughed as Kelsey, the girl with the camera, walloped her in the arm with a snowball of her own. Marik smiled to himself; he would need to thank that camel for throwing him and causing him to almost literally land in her lap.

She spun about with a snowball, clearly not recognizing him, and threw the ball of ice and snow that would put most professional baseball pitchers to shame-

-Where it struck Marik clean in the chest. Snow flew up in his face and hair and Sivya froze, throwing her hands over her mouth, eyes wide in panic. The snowball fight fell to a lull.

"Oh Marik I am so sorry! I did not even realize you were standing there—I must have mistaken you for one of the children-" She stopped mid-sentence as she saw the mischievous smile fall over Marik's face as he emerged from under the tree.

"Oooohhh, you're in trouuuubleeee," the willowy brunette cooed.

"Run Sivya, he's gonna get you!" Scottie cried out.

Sivya had little time to run before Marik had somehow managed to scoop her up, bridal style, the smile now broad on his face, the chunks of snow still on his cheeks and hair. Sivya squealed and squirmed but he held her fast as he carried her over to a snowdrift.

"You wanna play rough?" he teased her. "Trust me, I am the _master_ of snowball fights-oof!" As he attempted to dump her unceremoniously into the snowdrift, the heel of his boot slipped on an icy patch and the pair of them found themselves flying into the snowdrift, Sivya landing on his lap. Scottie and the others watched as the drift exploded in a plume of snow. As the snow settled, the heads of Marik and Sivya, both liberally covered in snow powder, peeking up.

There was a pause, then all the children burst into hearty peals of laughter.

Marik turned to Sivya. "I think there's snow now in my pants."

"It would seem that there is snow everywhere, pants not withstanding," she replied, her cheeks and nose bright red from the cold, making her eyes shine even brighter. Marik had to fight the urge to kiss her, at least, not in front of the children.

There was the flash from Kelsey's camera and both spun about to find the little girl with the camera in her hands.

"I want the negatives," Marik told her.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A few days later, there was a knock at the Ishtar door. Ishizu was in her bedroom, typing out a report on her laptop, and Sivya and Marik were on the couch under the blankets, reading _The Fellowship of the Ring_ together. They looked quite comfortable and unwilling to budge from their position, which left Odion to answer the door.

He opened the door a crack to see Kelsey, the girl down the hall, with a wrapped package in her hand.

"Why hello Kelsey," he greeted.

"Hello Mr. Odion, I have a present for Mr. Marik and Ms. Sivya," She offered the flat, rectangular package to Odion, whom took it delicately.

"Why thank you Ms. Kelsey. I will take it to them. I think they will enjoy it very much."

"Thank you Mr. Odion. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you as well, Ms. Kelsey." With that Kelsey bolted down the hall, leaving the man both slightly confused and yet bemused. But he paid it no mind as he headed back towards the living room. "It would seem that you two have received a Christmas gift from Ms. Kelsey down the hall," he told the pair.

"A present?. . ." Marik began but stopped when he realized what was more than likely was underneath the multiple layers of brightly colored wrapping paper and practically the entire roll of Scotch tape. He glanced over at Sivya, who was slightly confused at this as well, before adding:

"Those had better be the negatives."

**One of the things to notice is that Marik and Sivya don't really do too much PDA, because Marik feels really awkward about that sort of thing, and he doesn't want to make Sivya feel uncomfortable either. **_**But**_** every once in a while it happens and the aftermath is usually hilarious, as we've seen in AR.**


End file.
